I’ll Stand With Kids And Vote YES On Strong Start Tucson (Prop. 204)

By Buzz Davis

The decision by the Daily Star editorial board in last Sunday’s paper urged a “reluctant” NO vote on Strong Start Proposition 204.

I believe the Star is wrong.  Its position promotes the perpetualization of poverty.  The paper urges better student performance in Tucson schools especially better performance for minorities and low income whites.  It urges anti-poverty measures to create a better Tucson. The editorial board agrees with professional educators and research that Early Childhood education is critical to the development of young people.

Then the Star editorial board steps back and says a major community effort to improve the educational life of little kids 5 and under should be voted down. Why?  The board says “… the fatal flaw to our minds… is that Proposition 204 does not have a sunset, or ending date.”

I disagree!  Nearly all federal and state laws and local ordinances have no sunset date.  Most of the personal income or corporate tax laws have no sunset.  Most laws governing/protecting corporations like the Star have no sunset date. Most cities have a police and fire commission that a city council appoints.  Such commissions hire and fire those staffers – there is no sunset date for those laws.  Mayors and council members have little control over what the commissions do.  The decision by the Daily Starr editorial board in last Sunday’s paper urged a “reluctant” NO vote on Strong Start Proposition 204.

I believe the Daily Star is seriously wrong and its position promotes the perpetualization of poverty.  The paper urges better performance of students in the Tucson school district especially better performance for Hispanics, Native Americas, Blacks and low income whites.  The paper urges anti-poverty measures to create a better Tucson. The editorial board agrees with professional educators and research that Early Childhood education is most critical to the development of the brains of little people.

Then the Daily Star editorial board steps back and says a major community effort to improve the educational life of little kids 5 and under should be voted down. Why?  The editorial board says “… the fatal flaw to our minds… is that Proposition 204 does not have a sunset, or ending date.”

I disagree with this rationale.  Nearly all federal and state laws and local ordinances have no sunset date.  Most of the personal income or corporate tax laws have no sunset.  Most of the laws governing and protecting corporations like the Star and its owner Lee Enterprises have no sunset date. Most cities in the US have a police and fire commission that a city council appoints.  Such commissions hire and fire those staffers – there is no sunset date for those laws.  Mayors and council members have little control over what the commissions do.  They just appoint/reappoint members.

For ½ of 1% sales tax increase, the Star says, “No way, children, we cannot afford helping your education.  We think you need a Strong Start but we think those big adults should have put a sunset on that little tax.  Why that tax might cost us big folks a whopping $3 a month.”

Approximately half Tucson’s 14,000 little kids from lower income families would get 200 days of high quality preschool – because WE adults pay $3/mo.

I’ll vote with the little kids.  I hope the majority of adults do too.  We have a responsibility to try to do what is best for kids.  We need vast improvements.  Tucson is full of families living in or near poverty.

FACTS:

  • 36% of Tucson’s youth under 18 live in poverty
  • 25% of everyone lives in poverty – that’s more than 150,000 of us in poverty
  • 70,000 Hispanics, 45,000 whites and tens of thousands of others live in poverty.

Americans are getting poorer!  The Social Security Administration’s 2017 report estimates:

  • 38% of American workers made less than $20,000 last year.
  • 51% of workers made less than $30,000.
  • 63% of all workers made less than $40,000 last year.

Few Tucson families can afford to pay $800 a month for preschool for their little one.

Strong Start will help thousands of little kids be much better educated and very likely do better in public schools.  Good education comes at a cost.  Cheap it isn’t  —  nor are the A10 fight jets that fly over us each day on training flights that cost taxpayers $10,000/hr./plane!

We find the money to bomb deserts each day – we need to have the political courage to say our little kids are worth $3 a month to help hard working families give their little ones high quality preschool education!.

I urge the Daily Star editorial board to reconsider their “reluctant” NO on Strong Start Tucson.  Put our kids before partisan politics and stop using the “no sunset” knife to kill Proposition 204.

I’ll vote with the little kids and I hope the majority of adults do too.  Our responsibility is to do what is best for kids.  Vote YES on Prop. 204!

Buzz Davis, formerly of Stoughton, WI now of Tucson, is a long time progressive activist, a member of Veterans for Peace and a former VISTA Volunteer, Army officer, elected official, union organizer, impeachment organizer, former Exec.VP of WI Alliance4Retired Americans and a retired state government planner. dbuzzdavis@aol.com

Sources:

https://lanekenworthy.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/2014povertyintucson.pdf

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2015/10/goodbye-middle-class-51-percent-of-all-american-workers-make-less-than-30000-dollars-a-year.html

http://www2.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html?print

https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/tucsoncityarizona/RHI625216#viewtop

https://www.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/netcomp.cgi?year=2016

About Letter to the Editor 171 Articles
Under the leadership of Editor in Chief Huey Freeman, the Editorial Board of the Arizona Daily Independent offers readers an opportunity to comment on current events and the pressing issues of the day. Occasionally, the Board weighs-in on issues of concern for the residents of Arizona and the US.